High Court Returns, Seeks Input on Special Ed. Case

On the first day of its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court last week
asked for the Clinton administration's views on whether public schools
must foot the bill when medically fragile students require constant
care in the classroom.

The main federal special education law, the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, specifically exempts school districts from
having to pay for "medical services" unless such services are conducted
for evaluation or diagnostic purposes.

But lower federal courts disagree about whether constant or frequent
classroom care by a nurse or similar attendant for severely disabled
students constitutes medical services, for which districts are exempt,
or "related" educational services, for which districts are
responsible.

The high court on Oct. 6 asked the Department of Justice for its
views on Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret
F. (Case No. 96-1793). The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, district has
appealed lower court rulings that required the district to pay for a
full-time attendant for a 14-year-old boy who requires constant
attention because he uses a ventilator and bladder
catheterization.

'Necessary' Service?

The boy, Garret F., is paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a
motorcycle accident. The district says in court papers that it would
cost nearly $38,000 for one-on-one nursing while the boy is in school.
The district now pays about $10,000 to provide a full-time classroom
aide for the boy, so its net additional cost would be $28,000 a year
for a nurse.

The boy's mother argues in court papers that the services need not
be provided by a nurse. A properly trained teaching aide could provide
the services at no additional cost to the district, she says.

In February, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the 8th Circuit ruled unanimously that because the boy's care is not
provided by a physician, it qualifies as a support service "necessary
to enable him to enjoy the benefit of special education."

The appeals panel acknowledged that three other federal appellate
courts have refused to make the test for medical services contingent on
whether a physician was involved.

In its high court appeal, the Cedar Rapids district argues that the
8th Circuit has "effectively converted the IDEA from an education law
to a law requiring school districts to pay catastrophic medical
expenses of their students."

Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the Department of Education's office
of special education and rehabilitative services, said the federal
office would consult with the Justice Department on its reply to the
high court.

In a policy letter issued last year to an Illinois district, the
Education Department said special education cases involving "one-on-one
nursing services" needed to be evaluated closely by
individualized-education-program teams. Such teams are responsible for
drafting appropriate plans for educating students with
disabilities.

The department said most federal courts to address the issue have
taken the view that if the care required by a disabled student is
intermittent and could be administered by a regular school nurse, then
it is a related service for which the district is responsible. But if a
student requires continuous care, courts "generally have held that the
service is an excluded medical service," the department said.

The Justice Department is expected to take several months before
filing its brief on the case.

Cases Denied

The high court also rejected appeals in several education-related
cases last week. The court:

Rejected appeals from the states of Arizona and California
stemming from their lawsuits seeking reimbursement from the federal
government for public services provided to illegal immigrants. The
high court refused to hear Arizona v. U.S. and
California v. U.S. (Nos. 96-1595 and 96-1596).

Declined to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld
graduation prayers at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. The
high court appeal was Tanford v. Brand (No.
96-1894).

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